Designing a toilet for an aircraft poses challenges that do not generally occur in ground-based toilet designs. For instance, in an aircraft, space and weight are at a premium, and using regular water-flush toilets is not practical. Also, treating malfunctions such as clogs or electrical failure is much more difficult, since space restrictions make access to plumbing nearly impossible. Moreover, a malfunction in the operation of the toilet due to electrical failure renders the toilet inoperable until the aircraft is grounded for an extended period of time for maintenance and/or replacement of the toilet.